Chapter 4
The sound of birds, the whisper of leaves, and sunlight stabbing at her sensitive eyes finally made Odette open them.
She was lying on the forest floor, damp with dew.
Her head spun as Odette pushed herself up and sat there for a moment, waiting for the pain she was sure would tear through her body.
But it never came, at least not with the unbearable force that made her want to die.
She was still dizzy, and her wolf felt distant, as if she had sunk into some deep place inside her that Odette couldn't reach.
Then a few blurred memories began to return.
She had fallen into some kind of cavern, and she had...
Oh, Moon Goddess.
Odette slapped both hands over her mouth when she remembered climbing onto a statue and fucking herself on it like a desperate whore.
She touched what was left of her ruined clothes.
The cold breeze slipped through the torn fabric, raising goose bumps over her skin and hardening her nipples.
Her hands moved down between her legs... and she was wet.
A thick, heavy liquid was still leaking from her swollen pussy, sore from being thoroughly penetrated and fucked.
"What did I do?" Odette whispered, unable to explain any of it.
For some reason, she still couldn't connect with her inner wolf.
Had she really lost her virginity to someone, or something?
It had been... a stone statue.
She hadn't been able to see it, but she had felt it under her hands.
So where had that cock come from, the one she had ridden until she came?
And where had all that creamy semen come from?
She was a virgin, but she wasn't stupid.
Odette lifted her fingers, slick with male essence, and brought them to her nose.
There was no doubt about it.
A male had come inside her.
Then a memory stirred at the edge of her mind.
A few words, a vision, something that almost made sense, but she couldn't quite grasp it.
And she wasn't going to stay lost in that forest forever.
She struggled to her feet and realized many of her wounds had healed.
Her eyes weren't as badly damaged as they had been at first, either.
At least the shapes around her looked clearer now.
Odette wandered forward until she found a small stream in the middle of nowhere, then bent down to wash herself and gulp down the water.
Her thirst was so intense that she didn't notice the danger behind her while she swallowed mouthful after mouthful of water.
When she heard the soft crunch of footsteps and a threatening growl, she spun around just in time to see something leaping at her.
"Aaaahh!"
She screamed and threw her hands up to protect her face, but the whistle of an arrow sliced through the air.
The predator lunging at her dropped a few feet away, an arrow buried through its neck.
Odette stared in terror at the blurry shape she recognized as a cougar, then toward the man stepping out of the brush.
Her first instinct was to cover her nakedness.
Now that the effects of her forced heat had faded, the last thing she wanted was a male anywhere near her.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Elliot said, moving closer as he looked at the poor woman trembling on the riverbank.
One look at her told him enough about what she had been through.
When she lifted her eyes, he saw she couldn't focus them.
He saw the cloudy film over them, the way her gaze couldn't settle on anything properly.
She could barely see.
"What's your name? I can take you home... I don't have any other intentions."
He approached slowly, the same way he would approach a frightened little animal.
She lowered her head, shrinking further into herself.
"I don't have a home... and I don't have a name..." she rasped.
Elliot frowned and glanced around.
If he left her there, the predators would eat her alive.
He didn't even know how she was still breathing when she looked so weak.
"I can take you somewhere you can live and work in exchange for food," he said, making the decision before he could overthink it.
"The Temple of the Moon Goddess. The High Priestess lives there, along with the other priestesses who serve the deity."
Odette's head lifted sharply at his offer.
"They always need servants. The work can be hard, but at least... you'll survive."
That one word made her accept a stranger's kindness.
Survive.
That was how she ended up working in the temple laundry.
Because of the damage to her eyes and the lingering weakness in her body, she couldn't cook or serve the priestesses directly.
Odette was grateful for that.
The last thing she wanted was to be recognized by anyone inside the temple or by the people who visited it.
Once, she had been a beautiful and important heiress who had come to pray to the Goddess with her parents.
Now she was only one of many laundry maids, living under the false name Rose.
Odette thanked Mr. Elliot again and again.
He was one of the temple guards, the housekeeper's son, and the man who had saved her life.
That was how she began working at the lowest level, with her head down, accepting every hard task without protest.
They placed her in a tiny room with two other women from the laundry.
"That bed over there is yours, and you better not snore because I'm a light sleeper," one of them snapped, shoving her as soon as she arrived with her assigned blanket.
"Give me that. Let me see," the other said, snatching the blanket from Odette's hands before she could even protest.
"Hey, look at this wool. It's good. Almost new..."
"Yeah, better than yours. Yours is already a rag..." Odette heard them whisper.
She was blind, not deaf.
She understood their intentions quickly enough.
"I'm sure the housekeeper sent this one for me because she knows I needed it. Yours is already on your bed."
Odette heard the harsh words, then felt a shove toward the back of the room.
The small bed hit her knees, and she fell forward.
There was nothing on the mattress, but a moment later something was thrown on top of her: an old checkered blanket full of holes, smelling of someone else's sweat, with frayed seams coming apart at the edges.
"This one is yours, and you better not go asking the housekeeper questions, or you have no idea how fast we can turn your life here into hell."
The hard shove to her shoulder made the warning clear.
"I won't say anything," Odette murmured, swallowing the humiliation.
Pride?
Resistance?
She had none of that left anymore.
She only wanted to survive.
But no one could survive forever with their head down, and soon the abuse grew worse and worse.
In the large washing rooms, Odette sank her hands into cold water almost up to her elbows.
She scrubbed without stopping, sweating, while her white apron was splashed again and again.
She was almost done with her share and would soon be able to take her well-earned afternoon off.
The temple had given all the servants the afternoon off for a special celebration.
Everyone wanted to go out to the night fair, but Odette only wanted to rest.
She felt exhausted and dizzy, and the constant pain low in her belly had become impossible to ignore.
When she bent down to throw the sheet into the basket and carry it to the drying area, another basket crashed down beside her.
"Hey, blind girl, you still have more laundry here, and it's due today!" one of her tormentors said shamelessly.
Odette knew it was the part they had refused to wash.
She had heard them the night before, planning to go out and enjoy themselves today.
"Did the supervisor send it?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
She only saw the shadow rush at her before sharp claws closed around her chin.
"If I say the supervisor sent it, then she sent it. And you better not snitch on us. We'll destroy you, blind girl. Nobody here cares about a damaged thing like you. Watch yourself, or I'll cut out your tongue too..."
The next shove made her stagger and trip over the basket behind her.
Odette fell hard onto the floor, feeling pain tear through her whole belly.
She whimpered and pressed a hand to her stomach, clenching her teeth as her breath came out in broken bursts.
She heard their footsteps moving away and knew it would take her the entire afternoon to finish.
As her hands sank back into the water and wrinkled like raisins, her tears fell into the detergent-clouded water in that enormous, lonely washing room.
* * *
By the time she finished, it was almost midnight.
She could go back and sleep in her claustrophobic room, the way her body was begging her to do, or she could take advantage of her free night and not return yet.
She knew those women would come back drunk out of their minds, and who knew whether they would take it out on her.
Odette wandered through the forest surrounding the imposing Temple of the Goddess in the mountains.
She followed her memories, the scents she had once known, and found a small hill sprinkled with flowers, a place she had discovered as a child.
She sank down onto the grass and looked down toward the temple lights shimmering in the distance and the fair booths glowing in the plaza.
She didn't know what they were celebrating, and she didn't care.
Her faith in the Goddess was fading right along with her strength.
She drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, allowing herself to cry once more.
"Mom, Dad... if only you were here with me... It's not fair. None of what happened to us is fair..."
Her quiet sobs were muffled against the old dress made from donated temple clothes.
She took off her worn shoes and curled up on the soft grass.
She fell asleep breathing in the wild, primal scent of the forest.
It reminded her of that night, of that cavern, and of the only moment of release and ecstasy she had ever experienced in her life.
Odette fell asleep, but someone came to her in her dreams.
Suddenly, she felt hot again, needy.
Soft caresses moved up her legs, coaxing her open.
She rolled onto her back, panting heavily as her pussy grew wet with heat.
Her dress rode up over her hips, and rough fingers began to stroke her clit slowly through the fabric.